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Obama Administration Continues the War on Religious Freedom With Excessive HHS Fines

The Obama administration has dug in its heels on the issue of forcing religious organizations to provide free contraceptions/abotifacients despite the fact that it violates their conscience. If they refuse, they will be fined $100 a day per employee. This will bankrupt the institutions.

This comes from an ideological President who will force his views on our nation over the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion.

The Obama administration will allow freedom of religion until the government says otherwise –

According to the memo, “The Secretary [of HHS] may impose a civil monetary penalty on insurance insurers that fail to comply with the [health care reform law’s] requirements,” such as failing to provide contraception, sterilization, or abortion-inducing drugs. “The maximum penalty imposed by the PHSA is $100 per day for each individual with respect to which such a failure occurs.”

Such steep fees could bankrupt religious institutions that do not qualify for an exemption. The Catholic hospitals associated with the Catholic Health Association alone account for 530,673 full-time and 235,221 part-time employees. Collectively, those hospitals could face millions of dollars in fees each day.

The problem, however, is far from unique to the Roman Catholic Church…

To give you an idea of how extreme President Obama’s views are, consider his actions while serving in the Illinois state senate.

When President Obama served in the Illinois state senate, he would not vote for the “born alive bill” because he was concerned that it would infringe on abortion rights. President Obama believes that aborted babies who are born alive do not have the rights of live human beings. Obama believes in preserving abortion rights even at the expense of a born alive baby, whom he refers to as a fetus in an effort to dehumanize the baby.

President Obama, for four years, said that it was the wording of the bill which was problematic since it put abortion at risk. He said he would have voted for it if the wording was the same as the federal bill. However, he wouldn’t vote for a bill identical to the federal bill, something he admitted in 2008.

This is not a man who will work with religious organizations. He believes his government supersedes our constitutional freedoms.

Senate Bill 1082, Born Alive Infant Protection Act
Democrats took control of the IL Senate with the 2002 elections. This year Born Alive was sent to the Health & Human Services Committee, chaired by Barack Obama.

As can be seen on the vote docket, Obama first voted to amend SB1082 to add the “neutrality clause” from the federal version of Born Alive to the IL version to make them absolutely identical. (DP#1 means “Do Pass Amendment #1.)

Then Obama voted against the identical version. (DPA means, “Do Pass as Amended.)

For 4 years following his 2003 vote Obama misrepresented it, stating the wording of the IL version of Born Alive was not the same as the federal version, and he would have voted for it if so. As recently as August 16, 2008, Obama made this false assertion.

But when evidence presented was irrefutable, Obama’s campaign on August 18, 2008, admitted the truth to the New York Sun.

The nonpartison group FactCheck.org has since corroborated Obama voted against identical legislation as passed overwhelmingly on the federal level and then misrepresented his vote.